Since holding its first meeting in January, the International Lake Champlain-Richelieu River Study Board has been putting together a draft work plan to study flooding in the basin – notably the 2011 floods – and figure out what steps communities can take to mitigate future risks. The board’s mandate includes public involvement, and members held three meetings on July 11-13 in Vermont, Quebec and New York to solicit community concerns and input on the draft work plan. Read More »

The number of alewives returning to spawn in the St .Croix River has exploded this year, dramatically surpassing counts from recent years and boding well for the restoration of the species. Read More »

Thanks to trends showing changing precipitation patterns, rising temperatures and droughts in regions across the Canada-US border, the IJC spent 2016 working on new policies and recommendations to help governments adapt and prepare for the future, according to a newly released Annual Activities Report. Read More »

Hundreds of water professionals gathered for the annual conference of Canadian Water Resources Association (CWRA) in June in Lethbridge, Alberta. The three-day event brought people together along the rugged shore of the Old Man River to share information and best practices in all things water management. The conference featured keynote talks from leading water experts from Canada and the United States as well concurrent sessions related to topics including shared water resource challenges, water quality, modelling, and evolving policy and regulation. Read More »

The IJC’s International Lake Champlain-Richelieu River Study Board has released its draft work plan to recommend flood mitigation measures as well as approaches for flood forecasting and preparedness. The board is hosting public meetings from July 11-13 in Vermont, Québec and New York and accepting public feedback until July 28. Read More »

For Canada, 2017 marks 150 years since Confederation. Celebrations are planned from coast to coast on July 1, Canada Day. Canadians are commemorating their history, culture, scientific achievements and more. And their neighbor to the south is joining the celebration by taking special note of the many ways in which our two countries demonstrate their friendship and multiple partnerships. Read More »

The International Joint Commission has set an initiative to provide the public with information on short-term streamflow conditions and how they compare to historic conditions in an interactive, easy-to-use interface. In partnership with the US Geological Survey (USGS) and Environment and Climate Change Canada’s North American Water Watch team, we have created the IJC’s own North American Water Watch portal, an interactive map of real-time streamflow compared to historical streamflow for the day of year. Read More »

As winter turns to spring, waterways across the Canada-United States border get a fresh influx of water in what’s known as the spring freshet, with water entering the system from snowmelt and rainfall. This year, basins managed or monitored by the IJC are seeing strong flows and flood risks from central continental regions to the west coast. Read More »

Information is one tool being used to prepare for climate change, from the Columbia River basin in the west to the St. Croix River basin in the east. The IJC is developing a climate change guidance framework to help its boards plan for the future. The goal is to help determine how boards can address climate change within their mandates, what data is available and what’s needed, and what changes individual watersheds may face in coming decades. Read More »

For western water users, the size and melting rate of the winter snowpack – particularly in the mountains - is a strong indicator of how water supplies could look like for the rest of the year, impacting the ecosystem, farming, irrigation and communities along the way. Read More »

Invasive zebra mussels are working their way west from the Great Lakes to the Rainy-Namakan basin while other invasive species already in the water system continue to spread. Local officials are trying to slow and halt their progress through a combination of education, outreach and boat inspections. Read More »

Invasive zebra and quagga mussels have made their way westward since being detected in the Great Lakes in 1988, recently encroaching into Montana waterways. The economic and ecological impact has water managers in the sensitive and sizable Columbia River basin – located in the Pacific Northwest – increasingly worried about keeping these hard-shelled bivalves out. Read More »

In the prairie basins around the St. Mary-Milk Rivers and the Souris River, climate models are projecting hotter, more extreme weather in coming decades. In a region of the continent known for swinging between dry and wet periods, officials are already looking at adapting their current procedures to prepare. Read More »

Due to climate change, the International Kootenay Lake Board of Control expects increases in unregulated winter flows in coming years. That could lead to challenges in maintaining water elevations at or below target levels in the lake, located in British Columbia just north of the Washington state border. Studies show an increased potential for warmer, wetter and stormier winters and potential impacts on inflow. Read More »

The sockeye salmon has rebounded in the Okanagan River system since a low point in the 1990s.
The system includes the internationally-located Osoyoos Lake and is part of the broader Columbia River basin. The rebound is thanks largely to local efforts to improve fish passage, water management and hatchery practices. Sockeye numbers during their annual run have increased from a low of 1,666 passing the Wells Dam in 1994 to a peak of 490,804 in 2014. Read More »

The Experimental Lakes Area is a freshwater research facility comprised of 58 small lakes and their watersheds. The area is set aside for scientific study of the impacts of climate change, agricultural runoff, water management, contaminants such as mercury and organic pollutants, and a growing list of new chemical substances. Read More »

The Rainy-Namakan Lakes water system has seen its water levels controlled by dams since the early 20th century, and measuring water elevation has been tricky. But a recent study harmonizing all data points has come up with a benchmark for all gauges. Read More »

Residents of the Richelieu River and Lake Champlain area have worked hard to rebuild and prepare following a devastating and lengthy flood in 2011. Following a visit to the watershed by IJC commissioners in July, the IJC has been given the go-ahead by governments to launch new studies of flooding in the basin. Read More »

The IJC calls together its international boards twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall, to check on progress in areas from coast to coast along the Canada-US border. These boards are made up of volunteers from agencies, academia, nonprofits and the public, who dedicate time and expertise to important issues in their watersheds. They presented at IJC’s Fall Semi-Annual Meeting during the last week of October, at the IJC’s Canadian Section Office in Ottawa, Ontario. Read More »

2016/11/14

Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Stéphane Dion and US Ambassador to Canada Bruce Heyman spoke at the IJC’s recent Fall Semi-Annual Meeting in Ottawa. Here are excerpts from their talk. We appreciate their presence at our gathering and their kind words. Read More »

The International Watersheds Initiative (IWI) is an approach to resolving transboundary water issues grounded on the belief that local communities, given appropriate assistance, are best placed to achieve solutions. This approach recognizes that ecosystems function as whole entities and should be managed as such, rather than being bound by traditional political boundaries. Read More »

The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, founded in 2003 by then-mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago, is celebrating its 10th anniversary at an upcoming annual conference. The event, from June 19-21 in Marquette, Michigan, will feature climate change adaptation and shoreline management --- two issues central to the IJC’s focus, as well as economic development and mining issues. Read More »

The IJC’s Great Lakes Regional Office in Windsor, Ontario, has a new executive director.
Stephen Locke will be heading up the office beginning June 10.
Locke comes to the IJC from Natural Resources Canada, where he served as director with the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Read More »

When it comes to updating a 50-year-old management plan, there are two critical ingredients – science and public input – and both take time. Getting the science right and making sure the public is heard are the key responsibilities of the International Joint Commission as they consider a new approach to water levels management for the Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River system. That’s why the IJC is now asking for public input again, because the approach has been refined since the last round of comments from people throughout the region. Read More »

Aquatic invasive species are said to be the second greatest threat to native biodiversity, next to habitat loss.
The 18th International Conference on Aquatic Invasive Species, held recently in Niagara Falls, Ontario, examined this threat in detail. IJC scientists chaired two sessions on Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) Risk Assessment, and participated on the conference’s technical program committee. Read More »

Commissioner Bouchard, of Roberval, Quebec, and Commissioner Walker, of Toronto, Ontario, join the IJC at a busy time. U.S. and Canadian commissioners have navigated numerous issues recently and will be getting even busier in coming months. Read More »

If you consider that the Great Lakes are the largest surface freshwater system on the planet, and that the lakes provide drinking water for millions of people, you’ll see that this is an activity that concerns us all, even if it may not sound too exciting. Read More »

If you can’t attend the public hearings in person --- from July 14-19 in New York, Ontario and Quebec --- make plans to join in Thursday. Can’t make it Thursday? Another phone meeting is being scheduled for the same time on July 24, and you can use the same phone number. Read More »

This month, IJC commissioners sent a letter to leaders of the two governments, recommending a Plan of Study for the Lake Champlain and Richelieu River. This plan, estimated to cost $14 million over five years, would examine the causes and impacts of spring 2011 flooding on the lake and river, and develop possible mitigation measures. Read More »

Some reasons to consider a comment on a draft Adaptive Management Plan for the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River system. This is the final step before the Commission makes recommendations to the Canadian and U.S. governments. Read More »

The International Souris River Board holds public meetings at least once a year to meet and talk with basin residents and other interested citizens.
This year’s meeting, on Aug. 7, in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, focused on Board activities and objectives related to water management in the Souris River basin.
Board members fielded questions from attendees and discussed current issues in the basin --- from drought to flooding, ecosystem health, and water apportionment. Read More »

Great Lakes Week is when hundreds gather to share ideas and inspire region-wide action to protect and restore the world’s largest source of surface freshwater. This year, the week of Sept. 9-12 features two “first-ever” events in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Read More »

Stakeholders on Michigan-Huron and Lake Superior both voiced concerns about how the current regulation plan balances the levels of their respective lake, with citizens on Superior concerned over recent gate openings and citizens on Michigan-Huron concerned over the consistent below-average releases over the past decade. Read More »

Time flies when you’re a binational agency that advises Canada and the United States on transboundary water issues. Our latest Activities Report, covering 2011 and 2012, sums up what the IJC was up to in 2011 and 2012. Read More »

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the IJC’s 1938 Order on Kootenay Lake. This was the first meeting in Canada since record-setting rain events in spring 2012 resulted in Kootenay Lake rising to its highest elevation since upstream flood control dams were built in the late 1960s and early ‘70s. Read More »

This was the first public Board meeting since the new IJC Supplementary Order was introduced in January, and there were several questions on the rationale behind new minimum and maximum lake elevations in the new Order and concerns over high water levels. Read More »

At its annual meeting in Milwaukee, the Great Lakes Commission hosted an interesting panel discussion about the causes of fluctuating water levels, possible contributing factors (including increased conveyance through the St. Clair River), and the various impacts on Great Lakes environments and economies. Read More »

What’s happening to Horseshoe Falls? Is a new power tunnel going to drain Lake Erie? To offer an update on various priorities and projects, the International Niagara Board of Control hosted its annual public meeting and teleconference at the community center in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Read More »

A newly updated Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement includes new mandates that we’ll be using to make IJC processes even more open and public-focused. The goal is to make the best decisions after considering the science, options and affected parties. Read More »

The International St. Lawrence River Board of Control hosted its semi-annual public meeting and teleconference at the State University of New York in Oswego, N.Y., and concurrently at the Confederation Hotel in Kingston, Ontario. The board presented information describing the IJC, the Board, recent water supplies, recent and forecast water levels, and the Board’s current regulation strategy. The meeting also included an opportunity for public comment. Read More »

In recent months, two IJC commissioners were invited to speak at prominent events in Paris, France, and London, Ontario. U.S. Section Chair Lana Pollack spoke on the history of the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909. Canadian Commission Gordon Walker spoke on how the Treaty has led to improved relations between Canada and the U.S. in relation to our shared waters. Read More »

The IJC’s regular fall Semi-Annual Meeting will occur this winter, following a partial U.S. government shutdown in early October. The Semi-Annual, originally scheduled for the week of Oct. 21, will now be held on from Dec. 9-12 at the IJC’s Canadian Section Office in Ottawa, Ontario. Read More »

The purpose of each year’s State of the Strait Conference is to bring people together that are concerned about the Detroit River and western Lake Erie watershed.
Those who attend discuss current efforts to strengthen the linkage between science and policy, and share knowledge and lessons to help better manage this shared bioregion where nearly 7 million people live. Read More »

The Great Lakes Fishery Commission’s website has been significantly expanded with the addition of an engaging, open-access video database. The videos chronicle sea lamprey in the wild, sea lamprey spawning, various aspects of the sea lamprey control program, and cutting-edge fisheries research. Read More »

Great Lakes water levels usually fluctuate over time, as in months and years. But a couple of communities along Lake Superior and Michigan recently saw drastic changes in a matter of hours. Read More »

What does a 95 percent loss look like? Imagine losing 95 percent of your retirement portfolio. That would take another career to rebuild. What if we lost 95 percent of the water in the Great Lakes? Every lake except Ontario would be bone dry. The scenario seems pretty drastic, but it’s exactly where we are with the status of our wetlands in western Lake Erie --- from Point Pelee, Ontario, through Michigan and around to Sandusky, Ohio. Read More »

A six-year effort has been completed—using funds from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and other sources—to re-connect 35 miles of the Two Hearted River. As a result, this waterway is now one of the longest free-flowing rivers in the Great Lakes. Read More »

The IJC’s Lake Erie Ecosystem Priority, or LEEP, is targeting excessive algae growth in Lake Erie. The plans are to develop recommendations for the Canadian and U.S. governments to measurably reduce dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP) loads and algae by the end of 2015. Read More »

When it comes to updating a 50-year-old management plan, there are two critical ingredients – science and public input – and both take time. Getting the science right and making sure the public is heard are the key responsibilities of the International Joint Commission as they consider a new approach to water levels management for the Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River system. That’s why the IJC is now asking for public input again, because the approach has been refined since the last round of comments from people throughout the region. Read More »

Lake Erie is a priority for IJC. Our U.S. Section Chair, Lana Pollack of Ann Arbor, Michigan, spoke at the recent 8th Annual Lake Erie Waterkeeper Conference at Lourdes University in Sylvania, Ohio, to hammer that point home. Read More »

2014/02/28

The IJC project, also known as LEEP, has involved dozens of scientists from our two countries, who’ve worked to provide scientific and policy advice to reduce nutrient loads and harmful algal blooms. The result is “A Balanced Diet for Lake Erie: Reducing Phosphorus Loadings and Harmful Algal Blooms.” The report addresses the decline in Erie water quality over the past decade. In deteriorating water quality has affected the health of the ecosystem, along with drinking water supplies, fisheries, recreation, and tourism and property values. Read More »

Health and environmental exposure data isn’t being collected in an ideal way, to allow public health and environmental scientists and managers easy access to examine and compare it across the Great Lakes basin. A report urges leaders in the two countries to make improvements that will allow scientists and others to better integrate data, and connect the dots between environmental risks and public health. Read More »

“Geography is linked to the environment,” says Connie Wyatt Anderson, a high school teacher in Manitoba. “In the Lake Winnipeg watershed, what you throw into the Bow River in Calgary eventually ends up in Hudson Bay.” Wyatt Anderson is chair of Canadian Geographic Education, which has big plans for making sure more people --- especially children in the two countries --- find out everything they can about the Lake Winnipeg watershed, from the area it drains to the people and wildlife that live there. Read More »

The Great Lakes Fishery Commission’s website has been significantly expanded with the addition of an engaging, open-access video database. The videos chronicle sea lamprey in the wild, sea lamprey spawning, various aspects of the sea lamprey control program, and cutting-edge fisheries research. Read More »

Surprising as it may sound, year-long, continuous direct measurements of evaporation from the Great Lakes were not made until a project funded by the federal governments of Canada and the United States through the IJC made it possible. A network of five offshore measurement locations operate simultaneously year-round, even through bitter winters, and have provided some fascinating results. Read More »

Slimy, snake-like and worth protecting. That’s the American eel. This fish, once abundant in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, is fighting the odds to survive. The St. Lawrence River Institute of Environmental Sciences is working with partners to help the eels endure. Read More »

The Great Lakes have seen historic winters during the last two years, with prolonged arctic-like weather. While above-average snowfall and ice-coverage amounts are generally good for lake levels, unremitting cold and winds have produced ice conditions not present on the Lakes since the mid-1990s. Read More »

The International Lake Superior Board of Control recently increased the total outflow from Lake Superior through the St. Marys River. As is typical for this time of year, the outflow is expected to continue increasing over the summer months before beginning to decline in the fall. To allow for the increase in outflow, the flow through the gated dam at the head of the St. Marys Rapids, known as the Compensating Works, also was increased. Why is this necessary, and why now? Read More »

This month, IJC commissioners sent a letter to leaders of the two governments, recommending a Plan of Study for the Lake Champlain and Richelieu River. This plan, estimated to cost $14 million over five years, would examine the causes and impacts of spring 2011 flooding on the lake and river, and develop possible mitigation measures. Read More »

Cities and organizations in New York are showing off stormwater strategies --- to slow down, spread out, and soak in precipitation and runoff.
It’s an alternative to letting water flow unfiltered off of roofs and other hard surfaces and into streams, rivers, and ultimately the Great Lakes. Read More »

In the last several years, hydrographic data has been standardized for the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence Seaway and thousands of rivers and streams along the 5,000-mile (8,000-kilometer) border between Canada and the U.S. Stewards are beginning to use the same playbook when it comes to gathering and analyzing data to help prevent and resolve transboundary water issues. Read More »

As of 2010, Canada's total emissions of sulphur dioxide have decreased by 57 percent from 1990 levels, according to the report. Meanwhile, the U.S. has reduced total sulphur dioxide emissions from covered sources by 67 percent from 1990 emission levels. Read More »

2015/12/17

What’s the economic cost of Lake Erie Harmful Algal Blooms, also called HABs? That’s one question the IJC sought to answer in its latest report on the Lake Erie Ecosystem Priority (LEEP). In other words, what’s the value of avoiding the harm of future Harmful Algal Blooms, from ecosystem health to human activities like recreation and commercial fishing? Read More »

Great Lakes water levels and quality can be affected by forces brewed thousands of kilometers (or miles) away. The unusually cold winter of 2013-14 illustrates this point. Three atmospheric-oceanic factors have combined to create record cold weather for 200 million North Americans from the Rockies to the Atlantic. Read More »

The work of the IJC is informed, supported and guided by the more than 20 boards that work in specific watersheds and along the Canadian-U.S. boundary. Twice a year, many of the boards appear before the IJC to report on progress, share current and forecasted basin conditions, and alert the Commission to emerging or ongoing issues of concern. During the IJC’s Spring Semi-Annual Meeting from April 15-18 in Washington, D.C., the boards reported on new lows, average and highs. Read More »

Considering the ubiquity of plastic in today’s society, it’s difficult to realize how recently the mass production of plastics began. The initial commercial development of thermoplastics such as polyvinyl chloride, low-density polyethylene, polystyrene and polymethyl methacrylate began with the advent of World War II in 1939. Natural rubber was in short supply and extensive research was completed to develop synthetic alternatives. Large-scale production of polyethylenes in the late 1970s reduced their costs dramatically, and new applications were discovered – from cars to personal care products. Read More »

Flexibility is the operative word when it comes to the future regulation of Lake Osoyoos water levels in Washington state.
The International Joint Commission has marked Feb. 22, 2013, on its calendar. On that day, the current IJC Orders of Approval for Lake Osoyoos are set to expire, after standing for more than 25 years. Read More »